Goodbye graphite? Silicon anodes promise a 50% energy density boost

As the industry searches for solutions to the cost, scale and performance challenges associated with electric vehicle (EV) batteries, could lithium-silicon batteries hold the key? Group14, and its growing list of financial backers, thinks it could.

The company’s flagship product is a micronised silicon-carbon powder called SCC55 which replaces the usual graphite for lithium battery anodes. The company claims it can provide five times the capacity and up to 50% more energy density than conventional graphite. That’s because SCC55’s hard carbon-based scaffolding keeps silicon in the ideal form: amorphous, nano-sized, and encased in carbon.